The Challenge
by ReidsFanGirl18
Summary: Unable to move on, Maeve became a haibane of Old Home, but unlike the others she remembers bits and pieces of her past and this affords her a 2nd chance. Soon Spencer, tho he is not dead, becomes a haibane as well, and if they can deal with their mutual inner demons and reach the day of flight at relatively the same time, instead of moving on, they will go home...
1. Chapter 1

Part 1: The Cocoon

Amethyst had been at Old Home for nearly a year, when the next Cocoon had been found. She remembered her previous name, which none of the others did, and while she didn't remember exactly what had happened, she remembered the faces, voices, and names of the people she had loved in her old life. She knew that this set her apart, but it wasn't until the other Cocoon was found that Rekki finally decided to explain what the fact that she still had some of her memories meant.

For weeks before the giant Cocoon was discovered, Amethyst had been having strange dreams, dreams about her old life. She was in a dark room, the curtains were drawn, the windows locked, she didn't feel safe here. She somehow knew that there was someone out there who wanted to hurt her, though she didn't know who it was or why. Then the phone would ring… she would answer it, and he would be there. The man she loved but had never seen. Then the dream would change and they would be standing in a larger, slightly brighter room… But another woman, the one who had hunted her, would have her arm around her neck and a weapon pointed straight at her head. Amethyst…no, that wasn't her name in the dream… in the dream her name was still Maeve, as it had been. Maeve could feel the immense fear trying to take over her body. Her heart pounded, blood roared in her ears, her whole body shook and shivered as all the blood and warmth fled from the core of her body to her arms and legs, preparing to try and fight her way out or run if she got the chance.

Above it all, she watched and listened as Spencer, the voice on the phone, the man she loved, now here before her for the first time, offered himself to their captor in her place. He was ready to die if it meant that she would live. Then Maeve heard a loud sound, and everything went dark… then she would wake up. She'd open her eyes, hoping to be lying there on the cold floor; that it was all over now and Spencer was there, ready to help her to her feet. But instead she'd be safe in her bed at Old Home, and Spencer would again be a world away. She'd lay there in the peaceful stillness and weep, knowing that she'd probably never see him or hear his voice again.

One such morning, the morning that Rekki had found the second cocoon but before she had told Amethyst about it, she came in and pulled a chair over beside her friend's bed.

"You've had the nightmare again, haven't you?" Rekki asked, pulling her into a comforting, almost motherly hug with her long raven black hair falling gently around them both almost as if it were a blanket.

Amethyst nodded.

"The same one?"

"It's always the same one Rekki…"

"Maybe this is why we haibane so rarely remember our old lives…"

"Sometimes I wish I didn't remember… but then…then I remember him…I picture him standing there, telling me that everything will be alright. Then I don't feel so lost."

"Amethyst… there's a reason you can remember who you were and who you loved in your old life…"

"There is? I thought this happened so rarely that it wasn't well understood…" Amethyst told her.

"It is true that it's a rare occurrence…in fact you're the first one that I've met who remembers; but we do know why it happens when it does. Nemu read about it in the library the day after you got your wings. A very select few haibane are given what it called 'the challenge' and those who are given the challenge _need _to remember if they're going to have any chance of completing it."

"What's the challenge? What does it mean…?"

"All haibane are here because when their old lives ended, for whatever reason, whether it's emotional baggage or unfinished business… something keeps us from moving on like we're all supposed to. When a haibane is born who remembers something of her old life, it's because they will eventually be given a chance, a chance to return to their old lives. Someone they love who is either not dead yet or should have already moved on will be born as a haibane… if the haibane given this chance, and the one who came for them can reach the day of flight at the same time and within a certain amount of time…if I remember correctly, it's a year, then when they both move on it will be as if they never died."

"So someone I care about will be born as a haibane and if we can get to the day of flight within the same few days…we'll be able to go home instead of moving on…is that it?" Amethyst asked.

"That's right…and I think whoever has been sent to you, is on their way. I found another cocoon this morning, this one is even bigger than yours was." Rekki exclaimed.

"Wow… it must be huge then…" Amethyst responded, as she remembered seeing the remains of her own massive cocoon.

"Assuming that whoever is in there is the one sent for your challenge, do you have any ideas who it might be?"

"You said that they don't necessarily have to be dead…"

"Not necessarily…but they almost always have something to do with whatever baggage you have that would have brought you here…and…and how you died."

"Then I think I know who it is…"

"Who…?" Rekki asked, but Amethyst turned away and began to cry.

"Amethyst what happened to you?"

"I don't know! I know I remember more than most, but it's not complete, it's flashes, faces, names, voices…when I'm awake all I know is that I was murdered and who was there and who killed me…It's only clear in my dreams and then it's too horrible!" She yelled.

Rekki lowered her voice and spoke very calmly. "That's ok…it's alright…you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. The rest of us will get to know whoever it is soon enough. The cocoon is pretty close to hatching."

Rekki and Amethyst ran downstairs to the uninhabited room in the basement of old home. The cocoon left almost no space in the room, so that there was only room for the two of them to stand there in front of it and large grayish-purple roots attached it to the roof and ceiling. It's surface was already opaque charcoal gray and coming from inside of it, were the _gulb _and _crack _sounds of a preborn haibane beginning to move and scratch at the cocoon's shell in an instinctual attempt to break free.

Outside, the two haibane anxiously awaiting the new arrival flung themselves against the walls at opposite sides of the room to avoid being swept away when the water from the inside of the cocoon came crashing out at them in a giant wave.

They each watched so carefully, so intently that it felt like time itself had stilled to a halt, like the whole world was holding its breath. Then at last, cracks began to appear on the surface. All at once, the water inside turned those tiny cracks into a giant hole, flooding the room up to their waists before it spread out under and through the gap lines between the boards of the room's wooden door out into the hallway, leaving the cocoon's occupant in its wake.


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2: Wings

He was a tall, scrawny man with long brown hair that came almost to his shoulders, and a pale, kind face. Like all newborn haibane, he wore the off-white birth robe which is somehow given to all haibane in their cocoon, now sopping wet from the torrent that had carried its wearer out of the cocoon. Smiling broadly, Amethyst and Rekki each put one of his arms over their shoulder and together they carried him up the stairs to an unoccupied but ready bedroom. Once there, Rekki left Amethyst alone with him, while she went to get the supplies they would need for the next couple of days until his wings grew in and he was ready to join in the day to day life of the other haibane.

When she returned, Amethyst had already exchanged the sopping wet robe for a dry one and was now sitting at the man's bedside while he slept. On one side of the room but still a few feet out from the wall, there was a long narrow bed with a normal straight edge and black metal headboard, but the end of the bed and the footboard were curved in a half-circle, just like all the other beds in Old Home. For now at least, he slumbered contentedly, sleeping off the exhaustion of hatching and storing up energy for the ordeal which was still to come.

Rekki could tell, even though Amethyst was facing away from the door, that she was so overwhelmed with joy that she was liable to cry happy tears and a great weight seemed to have been lifted off her shoulders at his arrival. There was no doubt in Rekki's mind that Amethyst had known this man in her old life and that because he was here, she might just be able to return to it.

Rekki smiled absent-mindedly, happy that her friend had been given this chance, while at the same time wishing that she had also.

"So…is this someone you used to know?" Rekki asked.

Amethyst nodded without turning around.

Then Rekki pulled up the desk chair beside her.

"Can you tell me who he was to you? What his real name is…?"

"His name in the world we came from…is Spencer… he was my boyfriend…actually it goes deeper than that…we were in love, really in love…"

"Ah… I get the sense that I knew that kind of love, in the other world…I wish I could remember what it felt like or who it was with, but I don't…now if you asked me, I wouldn't be able to tell you what that kind of love even is…"

"Like all love I suppose… When it comes right down to it, it's about being willing to put the other person's needs above your own, even if it comes at great risk or cost to yourself… that their wellbeing and happiness is more important to you than your own. Spencer never told me that he loved me, he showed me. I realized it, when he was ready to die for me… but then…in that moment… I realized that I couldn't let him do it…" She said, the full memory of her death clearer to her now.

"That's probably why he's here…because he still wants to protect you, he wanted to be able to save you, badly enough, and you missed him enough, that the Haibane Renme decided to give you a chance to escape back into your old life and sent him to help you with it."

"Rekki…I know you usually handle it… but I…" Amethyst began.

"You don't have to say it…you want to be the one who is here to explain things to him when he wakes up, and watch over him while his wings grow in…I understand… I'll just hang out just outside the door in case you need any help, and I'll try to get the others to leave you guys be." Rekki reassured her.

When spencer awoke, he could tell that he was in a large stone building, one that he had never been in before. The bedding and the robe which he wore, felt soft and warm, but the open air of the room itself felt damp and cold. He opened his eyes to see sunlight streaming in from a large rectangular window a few feet from the bed. It wasn't until he moved his gaze a little higher, that what he saw jolted him fully awake. But it wasn't what he didn't recognize that registered…it was what he did. There, on a chair next to his bed, sat a woman in a long, blue dress, with thick, wavy, reddish brown hair and jade green eyes. This _had _to be a dream.

"Hi…" she said, with a voice he recognized in an instant.

"Maeve…is that…is that you?" he asked, sitting up in bed.

"Hi Spencer, and yes it's me…"

"But how…?" He asked. "How are you alive…?"

"Well…I'm not…technically…it's hard to explain…but this place isn't part of the world you know, not the one I left behind. It's a lot like that world…but this is where people go when they die and can't move on. They…we…are called Haibane, which means charcoal feathers…"

"How did I get here then? Am I dead?" he asked, trying and failing to mask the concern in his voice.

"I don't think so, but that is how most of us arrive… we die then we are reborn here by hatching out of giant cocoons at the same physical/mental/emotional age at which we died. You did hatch from a cocoon like the rest of us, I just don't think you came to be in one in the first place by dying." She replied.

"Maeve…you have wings…" He said. "Are you sure I'm not in a dream or dead?"

"Positive, though it would be next to impossible to prove that last one scientifically.

As for the wings, you'll be getting a pair of your own before too long." She told him.

"So, how long was I out?" he asked.

"About five hours… that's actually pretty short…most hatchlings sleep for the first twelve to twenty-four hours after leaving the cocoon. How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Tired…a little lightheaded…sore…it feels like someone is trying to pull my shoulder-blades right out of my back…"

"That's to be expected…you should lie back down and try to go back to sleep, you wouldn't understand it now if I told you but, you have a long night ahead of you…"

He did as he was told and laid back down. "Maeve d-does it f-feel cold i-in here to y-you?" he asked, he was shivering now.

"No…but it does to you because the fever set in already… don't worry…it's just another part of the process, and once it's complete the fever will break and disappear almost as suddenly as it came…" She said, pulling the blanket up to his shoulders and spreading a dark, gray wool one over that.

He nodded, and without knowing how he knew that he should do so, he rolled over onto his stomach. Several more hours passed in near silence. Anticipation hung heavy in air around them. The only noise was his breathing, labored by heat and pain, and the sound of ice cubes clattering against other ice cubes as Amethyst scooped them into little cloth bags which she then laid over his burning forehead and pressed against the bruised and bulging wing buds on his back.

"It hurts…" he cried, barely loud enough for her to hear.

"I know…I know…just hang in there…I'm right here with you. Everything's going to be alright…" she said calmly.

Then it happened. His hands clenched into tight fists, his back arched and his forearms braced against the bed, his elbows digging into the mattress. The wing bulbs began to move of their own accord, and with a crack, his wings broke the skin, letting loose tiny rivers of blood and grease. He let out a tortured cry as the rest of the wings broke free; then he collapsed back onto his stomach on the bed, exhausted. The throbbing wounds from which his wings had just escaped would not allow him to drift back out of consciousness. At the same time, being strung out both physically and mentally, he could not move or think… He just laid there in a state in-between wake and sleep. He was only vaguely aware of the sensation that his new wings were being brushed out, a gentle tug on the feathers he had yet to see.

At some point later on, exhaustion must have been stronger than the pain and caused him to finally pass out, because the next thing he knew it was morning. He sat up and looked around the room to find what looked like a very small hairbrush in a dish of bloody water, and Maeve fast asleep on a loveseat against the wall at the end of his bed. He still didn't feel quite himself, but it was certainly an improvement over the previous day. So he got up shakily and draped the gray blanket gently over her, accidently waking her up as he did so.

"Morning already?" she asked.

"It would appear so…" he replied.

"Are you alright? I know it was a rough night…"

"I'm ok… still getting used to the idea of wings…"

"That will take a little time. So…are we the first ones up or have you met some of the others already?" she asked.

"Others? What others?" he asked.


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3: Old Home

Meanwhile, the other haibane were having a meeting down in the dining room. Rekki had kept the news about the new cocoon and about who was inside it, as a secret between her and Amethyst. Only now did she tell them what had happened the previous night.

"What do you mean there's a guy staying here? Even if he is a haibane, Old Home is girls only." Kanna argued.

"I hate to say it, but Rakka is right…I'm not suggesting we should turn him out onto the street or anything, but maybe we should take him to the border and send him to live at the factory with the other co-eds." Hikari suggested.

"No. First of all, like it or not, he was born here, which means this is the haibane nest he's supposed to be able to call home, that rule is sacred, the girls only thing is just something that developed out of circumstances, this trumps it easily. Second, he's no ordinary haibane…he's here because of Amethyst. They were lovers in her old life. We know that she was given the gift of the challenge because she retained bits and pieces of her memory, but the challenge isn't something any haibane can complete alone, nor is it something we can help her with. She needs him. This is a blessing…one that most of us would give almost anything for. We can't ask her to throw it away by shipping him off to some other district!" Rekki exclaimed defensively.

"Well…when you put it like that…"

"This is his home now, they belong together and we must welcome him as our brother haibane. End of discussion."

"Yeah…" Kanna conceded.

"I should probably go get the halo mold…" Hikari said, before she stood and left, with her long blond ponytail trailing behind her.

"Just make sure you don't use it to make doughnuts in this time." Rakka reminded her.

"So…does this guy have a name yet?" Kanna asked.

"He remembers his previous name…like Amethyst did…"

"Yeah, but to fit in here, he's still going to need a haibane name…"

"That is true…" Rekki said, then she stood. "Let's go see if he's ready for more company…"

Back upstairs, Amethyst was trying to explain the ways of the haibane, and the challenge ahead of them.

"So what's with the bowl of water…?" He asked.

"When your wings came out, they were covered in blood and grease…which is perfectly normal, but someone has to brush them out for you with a brush dipped in water… if they aren't cleaned then the feathers will clump and stain… It takes almost all night to do…but it has to be done, the sooner the better."

"You stayed up with me all night doing that…didn't you…?"

"Yes…"

"Thank you…"

"It was nothing…"

"Spencer, everyone around here has a different name than the one they had in our world…you'll probably be getting a new name before long."

"So your name isn't Maeve anymore?" he asked.

"Not in this world…once a haibane is born into this world, he or she is given a name for the dream that they had in the cocoon. For example, in my cocoon dream, I was outside my body watching myself inside the cocoon, only the cocoon was a beautiful purple crystal… so I was named Amethyst…" she explained.

"Speaking of the cocoon dream, what was yours?"

Spencer turned to see who spoke. He saw a young woman in a black tank top, denim jacket, and an ankle-length green skirt, with long black hair and large, blue eyes so dark they almost looked black.

"Um…who are you?" he asked her.

"Oh I'm sorry… my name is Rekki, and I'm the leader of Old Home… I know that you remember your name, but you'll still need a haibane name, to use while you're here… so what was your dream?"

He closed his eyes, trying to remember. "I was in a massive library…it felt like all the knowledge in the world was at my fingertips…"

"Then for as long as you live among us as a haibane…your new name will be Chishiki, meaning knowledge…"

"O…k…"

"I know it must seem strange, considering that you and Amethyst both remember your old names, but while you're here, this is what everyone else will call you…and especially in public, you should use your haibane names even with each other…because it's so rare that it's almost unheard of…for a haibane to remember what their name was before they came here…"

"Rekki…" he began.

"Yes…?"

"How many haibane are there…?" Chishiki asked.

"It's hard to say…this is just one of several haibane nests throughout the city…and we don't always here when someone is born or leaves from another nest…but here… counting you, Amethyst, and myself, there are seven of us here in Old Home." She explained.

"Where are the other four?" he asked.

"They're waiting outside, we've found that it just confuses and overwhelms the hatchlings more, with everyone talking and introducing themselves all at once… especially before the wings grow in. Are you ready to meet them?" Rekki asked.

Chishiki nodded.

"Hey guys…" Rekki called out. "He said yes, come on in and introduce yourselves!"

At her words, four more haibane filed into the room. There was a tall, tan, young woman with wavy brown hair and eyes that were half-closed, called Nemu, a tomboyish girl in loose gray pants and matching shirt, with short black hair, her name was Kanna, a thin, blond girl who looked to be around seventeen, named Hikari, Chishiki took notice of the strange looking pie-iron she was holding, then last but least, there was Rakka, who had short, light-brown hair and brown eyes.

At first he had thought that the floating golden disks above Maeve and Rekki's heads were a product of the previous night's ordeal… that he must've remained a little lightheaded and as a result his eyes were playing a trick on him, but they _all _had them, and no matter how many times he tried to un-see them, they remained.

"What are those disks above everyone's heads?" He asked.

"Oh these…?" Hikari answered. "These are our halos… you're about to get one too…" She said, stepping toward him. She opened the strange pie-iron and lifted a golden ring out of it with a pair of tongs. "Feather Chishiki… to help guide your future, on behalf of the haibane, I give you this halo…" she recited, placing the golden ring above his head. It wobbled a bit but it didn't fall. "Welcome to Old Home…"


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4: The Riddle

By the next day, his wings had stopped throbbing and Amethyst and the others decided to take him into town. He looked more than a little ridiculous, having had to borrow pants from Kanna, which were too short for him, and a denim jacket from Rekki that didn't go with them at all.

"Guys…are you sure I won't stick out? Going into town looking like this?" He asked.

"You're the first guy we've had…all our spare stuff is newborn robes and dresses… it was either this or the robe…" Kanna reminded him smugly.

"Looks like our first stop is the thrift shop…" Amethyst added. "We'll find you something better before we go anywhere else… As Haibane, we can only use items that the rest of the town no-longer needs, that includes clothes."

"Thanks…" he said, not realizing that they had already reached the shop.

"Here we are…" Rekki said. "Winter's already here so everybody should pick out some warmer clothes, it'll be snowing again by next week…" she said, but everybody was already inside trying to pick something out.

Chishiki eventually settled on a blue, button down shirt, a pair of black jeans, and a navy-blue trench coat with a wool-lined hood.

The day after Amethyst and the others showed him the town, Chishiki was summoned by the Renmei to the temple… as is the custom, since it was his first time, he did not go alone. Without knowing how she knew it, Amethyst understood that she, and she alone, was supposed to act as his guide… just as Rakka had done for her, and Hikari had done for Rakka. On the way there, Amethyst explained about the temple, about not being allowed to speak within its borders unless permitted to, instead answering yes or no with bells attached to ones wings.

Once they arrived and came face to face with the communicator… Chishiki was given a haibane notebook of his own. They waited for a moment, but he did not give them the signal that they were permitted to leave, instead he continued to speak.

"Before you go…" Came the masked communicator's deep, monotone voice, "you both are already aware that you are not normal haibane… Amethyst retains bits and pieces of her memories from her old life…and Chishiki's is as clear as though he had never left that world. One of you is a haibane, upon whom the unusual blessing of the challenge has been bestowed, the other has been chosen to aid in that challenge and so brought here. The both of you were chosen, because you are tethered to each other by an unbreakable bond. Amethyst died to the world she once knew, but her connection to one she left behind would not let the water inside the cocoon wash away her old life completely. Likewise, if Chishiki were to actually die before completing his half of the challenge, his tether to Amethyst would doom him to reside in this place…regardless of whether or not Amethyst remained here or had already taken her day of flight.

_The challenge_

_It both a blessing and a trial be_

_But if complete, both souls are freed _

_By the last bell toll_

_Beyond the wall must they go_

_The day of flight shall come to all_

_Both to the great, and to the small_

_A spinning halo _

_Make the clock reverse_

_Change fate's design _

_Rebuild the broken bridge_

_Let the pure hearts shine_

_Return to whence thou came_

_Forgive those not to blame"_

"That's your idea of an explanation?" Amethyst asked, forgetting not to speak.

"When you understand what the poem means, then you will go home to your old world beyond the wall." He replied, and signaled for them both to leave.

As always, once they reached the point where the bells were removed from their wings and they were again allowed to speak clearly, it felt like a giant weight was lifted off of them.

"So…I know we're supposed to use the notebook instead of money…but how do we go about finding work around here?"

"Usually we go with our housemates to each of their jobs and then pick one." She explained.

"What do you make of the communicator's poem…?" He asked.

"It's obviously a riddle…I'm not surprised…the communicator is known for being cryptic…"

"The first part was about the challenge, which we already knew…" he said.

"Yes but now we know our deadline… the last bell toll…probably refers to the last toll of the bell from the town's clock tower, at the stroke of midnight at New Year's. That gives us just less than a year… winter's been here for a while but the snow is unusually late… New Year's was a week before you came out of the cocoon. It's the part about rebuilding a bridge and forgiveness that I can't figure out." She replied.

"I think that's referring to the concept of burning bridges, things that are said or done that cause harm to relationships and are never resolved…"

"Right, but with who? How are we supposed to forgive and reconnect with anybody, if there is literally not a single person here, aside from each other, who we have any connection to outside of this town?" Amethyst asked.

"I think that's part of the challenge, to figure that out…"

When they arrived back at old home, they found the young feathers playing kickball in the courtyard and Rekki hard at work making supper for the whole house.

"Hi guys…" Rekki greeted them, sticking her head out of the curtain which hung in the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room.

"Need any help?" Amethyst asked.

"Nope…that's alright, I got it." Rekki answered, dropping several freshly peeled potatoes into a pot of boiling water on their old, wood-burning stove. "How did it go at the temple?" she asked.

"I think we actually ended up with more questions than answers." Chishiki replied.

"I'm not surprised, the communicator isn't known for being very direct. Whatever riddles he gave you though…they are important…"


	5. Chapter 5

Part 5: The Bakery

On the first Monday after that, Chishiki decided to start the job finding process, but he still hadn't decided which job he was going to try first. So there he sat, at the dining room table, having already helped with the breakfast dishes, rhythmically drumming his fingers on the sturdy wooden dining table, trying to make a decision.

"You could stay here and help me with the young feathers…" Rekki offered.

"No thanks Rekki…I'm really bad with kids, most of them are afraid of me…"

"Come on, a nice guy like you, scaring kids? I don't believe that…" she replied. Chishiki detected the faintest hint of patronization in her voice.

"There were only ever two kids who I've known who liked me…at all…"

"Well, if you don't wanna help with the kids, go with Hikari to the bakery to start out…" Rekki suggested. "She hasn't left yet…"

"Actually Rekki, that's the one I had already decided wasn't for me…I'm no good at all at baking…or cooking in general…in the other world I pretty much survived on takeout food…" he admitted, looking a little embarrassed.

"You lost me. What's takeout…?" Rekki asked, suddenly very confused.

"It's- never mind…" He replied sullenly. "The point is that there's no way I'll be any good at that job…"

"The point is also that you don't have much of a choice… tradition states you need to try your hand at everything available to us and then pick one, you have to start somewhere and…everyone else has already left…"

"Come on Chishiki…" Hikari called to him while putting on her coat. "It'll be fun…"

"This is going to be a disaster…" He said with a sigh.

"It will with that attitude…come on…we need to leave now…" her high-pitched, yet quiet, almost angelic voice sounded uncharacteristically stern, and he decided that he had better just go and get it over with.

The bakery was a large, round building with cream-colored clay walls and a tall, green roof. It rested on a quiet street in what Chishiki determined to be the oldest part of town. Once they stepped inside, Hikari quickly pulled him into the back kitchen, stopping only to put in a plain white apron which hung on a coat hook next to the door. The walls were lined with wood-burning stoves not unlike the one in Old Home and in the center of the room there were two long, narrow tables with trays full of unbaked pastries ready to throw in the ovens.

"Oh sheesh… we should've gotten here earlier, the baking team is at a banquet today and I forgot all about that… now we're way behind!" Hikari exclaimed in dismay.

"It's ok…just tell me how I can help…" Chishiki said calmly.

"There's a wood pile right outside that door over there…just look to your right and you'll see it…" She explained, pointing to the door directly across the room from where they had entered. "Start by lighting the stoves, all of them… I'll put out the leftovers from yesterday so we at least have something out there until these are done…"

He nodded and went to where she had directed him. Five minutes, he burst back through the door with as much wood as he could carry and started throwing it in and lighting the various ovens. Hikari trailed behind, shoving in pan after pan of various kinds of roles and cakes.

"Now what…?" He asked, unsure of what he should do next.

"Now…now you go mind the store while these bake… its better if I watch them because we can't afford to burn all of these. I'll come get you when they're done…this is the fun part, we have to try one of each kind before we put them out for sale." She told him.

Sure that she was right and he was libel to screw it up, he obeyed. At least out in the store, he couldn't ruin the merchandise. The store, like the kitchen and the outside of the building, had thick, cream-colored walls and a tall, round, vaulted ceiling. It was divided by an oak store counter with cases full of now day-old baked goods and an old-fashioned cash register.

For two hours no one came in, and Chishiki was left to his thoughts. This was the chance of a lifetime… a chance to get Maeve back, and erase that awful night almost a year and a half ago…but it was not going to be easy at all… he barely had a clue what they were supposed to do or why…and he didn't want to imagine what could happen if they failed. The communicator and whoever he worked for did not seem the types to give something so precious without risk or price…

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Hikari calling his name from the back. He went back to the kitchen and found the trays were now full of fresh baked goods still steaming with heat from the stove.

"We have to each try one off of each tray…" Hikari said. "You go first…" She offered.

So he picked up a cheese roll and bit into it, only to immediately remove the piece from his mouth and shake his head at Hikari. "Something's off…" he told her. "It tastes like someone poured cheddar sauce over charred tree bark…"

"You forgot to dry and strip the fire wood didn't you?" She asked.

"I'm not sure that I even know what that means…" he replied.

Hikari sighed heavily.

"I screwed up didn't I? I'm sorry… I told you guys I wasn't going to be any good at this…"

"Don't you have ovens where you came from?" Hikari asked.

"Well yes but…we don't burn would in them anymore, ours are heated by gas or electricity. The wood-burning stoves were phased out even before I was born. I didn't know you had to strip the wood and dry it out first." He explained.

"That's alright…it was my fault…I should have explained exactly what you needed to do instead of just ordering you around. Go back to the front… I'll fix this myself…" She said with a sigh.

He obeyed. Chishiki was more than a little confused about Hikari's behavior. She said she didn't blame him for the mishap and he was relieved to hear that…but at the same time, she wasn't going to let him help her fix it. She said that this was to punish herself for her own error but part of him thought that she just didn't want to give him an opportunity to mess it up a second time.

His over analysis of his new housemate's behavior was interrupted when the first of two rather interesting customers walked in. He was a tall, large, broad-boned, well-muscled, man with short, flat, dark hair and small, beady, green eyes.

"Hello sir…" Chishiki greeted him.

"Never seen you before…you new around here Bean Pole?"

"Yes sir…"

"I'll take three strawberry sugar buns…" the man ordered.

"Alright…" Chishiki replied, pulling the order out from the glass case that still contained the previous day's batch.

"Those fresh…?" the man asked.

"Um…no…" he answered, unsure if he should tell the truth. It made business sense to lie, but it seemed like the kind of thing that a haibane shouldn't do.

"It's almost midday already…what have you guys been doing in here?" The man asked angrily.

"There was a mishap with this morning's batch, we're working on it, but for now this is all we have…" Chishiki replied.

Suddenly the man reached over the counter, picked him up off the ground by his collar and shook him. "I want my strawberry sugar buns!" he yelled.

"Mr. Ueda…" Hikari said sternly, having appeared in the doorway behind the counter. "Please put my friend down, now. Just because we don't currently have fresh sugar buns, is not a reason to get angry. There are more civil ways to resolve our problems. Chishiki has already offered to you, the strawberry sugar buns that we _do _have ready. Yes they are a day old but they have been safely wrapped up this entire time. They will still taste fresh and if it would help; we would certainly be willing to heat them up so that they will taste even more like they came out of the oven. Will that satisfy you?" she asked.

Chishiki watched the silent standoff between the two of them. Hikari was tiny, and carried an aura of innocence, she was not at first glance, someone a grown man would find intimidating and yet… In that moment she starred at Mr. Ueda with a severity and a confidence that could send a shiver down almost anyone's spine. Mr. Ueda though, was no push over. He stared back in anger, though it was hard to tell whether or not he was still upset about his order, or if it was Hikari's challenge to his dominance that was upsetting him now.

"Fine…but there had better be fresh ones tomorrow…" he growled.

Chishiki handed him the bag, he took it and then he left. It wasn't until Mr. Ueda had disappeared down the street that they both let out a sigh of relief. "Wow, that was tense…" Chishiki commented.

"Mr. Ueda is a regular here, he's not a bad guy…but for some reason he enjoys making things hard for the haibane…like just because we're haibane we should be perfect or something, but the truth is that the fact that we are haibane, if anything, proves just how imperfect we are. Don't let him get to you… he's just a cranky person."

"But I messed up again…" He reminded her.

"No…you did exactly what you should have done and what I would have done…"

By the time the second customer came in, there was only an hour left in the work day. It was a fellow Haibane but not someone that Chishiki recognized, so he realized right off that bat that she must be from another haibane nest. She looked to be in her late twenties, she had long, straight, raven hair running down her back and large, sky-blue eyes. She wore a black long-sleeved sweater and an ankle-length dark navy-blue skirt. There was something inextricably familiar about her, something he couldn't quite place. She didn't say anything, but her body language betrayed her unease. Her body was tensed, her eyes mistrustful, her feet poised to carry her away at a moment's notice.

"I'll have ten pieces of cinnamon bread please…" she said quietly, her voice was flat and monotone, every bit as closed-off and mistrustful as her eyes.

He packaged up her order and told her how much it was going to cost. She wrote the amount down in her haibane notebook, tore out the page and gave it to him. Then she took her bag and left without another word.

"Hey Hikari…" he called out, she came to the front.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Who is that? He replied before the unknown haibane had a chance to disappear.

"Oh…that's Hitori from abandoned factory… she's a little odd, always so quiet and nervous…she works with Kanna in the clock-tower, my guess is that she was picking up treats to take home to the others in her nest."

"Where's abandoned factory?" He asked.

"It's the haibane nest on the other side of the river, we used to be friends with some of them but…then something happened a while back and it changed everything."

"What happened?"

"Ask Rekki…" She replied sullenly.


End file.
